A 250-plus delegation yesterday arrived in Guyana aboard an Ethiopian Air-lines aircraft for the second AfriCaribbean Trade and Investment Forum (ACTIF23) which begins today at the Marriott Hotel.
With occupancy at hotels in the capital at capacity for the historic event that promotes transatlantic trade and investment between CARICOM and Africa, government hopes that investment and partnership opportunities here will be looked at.
“This is an initiative that has been embraced by CARICOM. This is really about connecting the private sector with the Bank so that we can drive the best investment and trade,” Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hugh Todd, told Stabroek News last evening.
“Afreximbank has already set aside US$1.5B for investment which obviously we hope the private sector in the region takes advantage of. We hope there are public-private partnerships that essentially will help to build and develop the respective countries they are in,” he added. Guyana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs said that member states have set their respective priorities for development and Guyana wants to ensure that its citizens ultimately have a better standard of living.
“What we are trying to do is provide a better quality and standard of living, this purse provides an avenue for that,” he posited. In hosting the conference which ends tomorrow, Todd said that this country “is providing leadership” and that it is “a sign of our, the government and President (Irfaan) Ali’s commitment to this initiative.”
Foreign Secretary Robert Persaud, who holds the responsibility for Foreign Investment and Trade, told this newspaper that this conference is one that all Guyanese should be proud of.
“It starts up from the historic, in the first instance, because this conference is the first for the country. You have businesses out of Africa engaging businesses in the Caribbean, especially Guyana. Traditionally, we have not been able to deepen and tap in and maximize the transatlantic trade,” Persaud said.
“This conference gives the opportunity to business investment and financers where both sides can fuse synergies that will open up tremendous opportunities. The fact that Guyana has been chosen to host the event, speaks also to the trajectory of us being the fastest growing economy in the world and the potential opportunities for our peoples. This conference will be a stimulant for greater investment trade in African and the Caribbean region…,” he added.
Under the theme “Creating a Shared Prosperous Future”, Afreximbank says that the conference will focus on consolidating commercial collaboration between the Carib-bean region and Africa, for increased inter-regional trade and investment building on the successes of the inaugural edition that was held in Barbados last year. President of Afreximbank, Professor Benedict Oramah, who arrived last evening, said that gauging by the success of the inaugural event held in Barbados, he believed that in Guyana there would be significant growth and opportunities between the African countries and those in the region. The Bank says that the conference provides delegates with the opportunity to meet with high-level government officials, industry leaders, entrepreneurs and investors to form strategic connections and collaborations. It also helps them “explore opportunities in Africa and the Caribbean, spanning sectors including agriculture, manufacturing, renewable energy, oil and gas, infrastructure, tourism and more.”
Trade and investment support is also offered, from specialist support services and access to financing facilities. ACTIF 1 had welcomed over 1,267 delegates from 108 countries, including participants from 50 African countries, 13 Caribbean countries, and regions as far away as Oceania, a communique following the event had stated. “Going by the impressive gains we have recorded in less than one year since ACTIF2022, we have every reason to look forward to a further deepening of commercial relationships between Africa and the Caribbean when we meet in Georgetown, Guyana. We are exceedingly grateful to the Government of Guyana for agreeing to host this important bridge-building Forum,” the Afreximbank president said.
The AfriCaribbean Trade and Investment Forum was introduced in 2022 to enhance the growth of trade and investment between Africa and the Caribbean, including promoting air links, tourism, technology transfer, financial stability, food security, industrialisation and cultural ties. “There has been growing commercial cooperation between Africa and CARICOM supported by Afreximbank. Eleven CARICOM member countries are now participating States in the Bank and the Bank’s Board approved a limit of USD$3 billion for Caribbean economies to enhance trade and investment opportunities between the two regions,” the bank says. When the Stabroek News had interviewed Oramah in Ghana last June, he had said that with a regional branch to be opened in Barbados in July, the bank was looking forward to host the trade and investment forum in Guyana, even as he had underscored the importance of a US$1.5 billion envelope it had opened to CARICOM.
